I Wanna Shelter You
by Artemis GoH
Summary: While in the back of the car one of the raptors manages to hurt Zach. He tries to hide it as long as he can. He doesn't want to worry his brother and both Claire and Owen are busy trying not to die. But the pain is getting worse and it's harder to hide the bleeding, and he feels so so dizzy. He just needs to wait for everything to calm down. He can do that. He totally can. He can't


_Fill for Jurassicwordprompts #63: While in the back of the car, one of the raptors manages to hurt Zach. He tries to hide it as long as he can. He doesn't want to worry his brother and both Claire and Owen are busy trying not to die. But the pain is getting worse and it's harder to hide the bleeding, and h feels so so dizzy. He just needs to wait for everything to calm down. He can do that. He can. He totally can. He can't._

Disclaimer: I do not own Jurassic World, the characters, or the prompt.

 **I Wanna Shelter You**

Zach could feel his leg burning the moment he leaned forward to grab the tank off the side of the ambulance. He wasn't entirely sure of what happened, but his leg had gotten cut on something, and from what he could tell, it was a deep cut. He was grateful that his pants were dark so Gray wouldn't be able to see the blood. As soon as his brother was distracted talking to Claire, he ripped off a strip of fabric from his shirt, wrapping it around the cut. He bit back a hiss and sat down, feeling relieved that Gray hadn't noticed. He had almost forgotten about his leg, until he jumped out of the ambulance, grabbing Gray to help him down. As he jumped, he landed funny and could feel something snap, but couldn't tell what. He reached up to grab his brother, but the extra weight sent a spike of pain up his leg and he almost collapsed.

"Zach? What's wrong?" Gray asked worriedly.

"Nothing, nothing. You're getting bigger than I remembered," he brushed it off, trying not to limp as they joined the adults.

He wouldn't admit it, but everything was a blur after they entered the labs. He knew that Hoskins had been killed, but his vision was so blurry that he couldn't tell which raptor it was. He remembered the three raptors surrounding them and the thought that if dying meant the pain would stop, he wouldn't complain. He remembered Owen talking to Blue- he thought it was Blue- and he remembered the I-Rex showing up. After that, he only remembered pain. He remembered running- no, he remembered Owen dragging him out of the way. He remembered unclipping Gray's pouch because no way was a dinosaur taking his brother. He remembered Own pushing him out of the shack and he remembered feeling more pain than he had ever felt before. He remembered the Mosasaurus leaping out of the water, and he remembered Owen shoving him and Gray back as the water splashed down on them. After that he remembered nothing.

The next thing he remembered was voices- no, that wasn't a memory, that was why he had woken up. He tried to open his eyes but closed them again as soon as he noticed the bright light. Instead he tried to use the rest of his senses while he tried to adjust his eyes. Once he focused, he could feel a needle in his hand- an IV he was sure. He felt his right leg elevated and itching, but less painful. He couldn't make out the voices, everything sounding like he was underwater. He decided to try opening his eyes again. The light still burned, but he fought to keep his eyes open. The first thing he noticed was that he was in what seemed like a makeshift hospital bed. The second thing he noticed was that he was in a hospital room. When had they left the island? Finally he noticed the people. He noticed Gray sitting by his head, staring at the standing figures. He looked at the figures and blinked. He blinked twice more before trying to scan the room for Claire, but he didn't see her. Eventually he had to acknowledge the two men facing off. To his relief, the yelling had stopped and the two men were just staring at each other. He made out his father first, who was facing his way but not looking at him. After a few moments, he recognized the other man as Owen. What he found stranger than Owen being in the room- it wasn't too strange, they had survived a lot together- was Owen's posture. It was the same posture that he recognized from his dealings with Hoskins. His hands were on his hips and his posture screamed control. The weirdest thing, the thing that made Zach shut his eyes tightly before reopening them, was that Owen was standing between he and Scott, the same Alpha protecting his pack stance that he had used with his raptors against InGen.

"So that's your plan?" He heard Owen ask, "make your son choose between going home and getting medical care, even though he wouldn't be allowed to check out?" Zach might not have known what the argument was, but he recognized the burning anger and fierce protectiveness in his tone.

"Karen wants him home, that doesn't mean I want to deal with him." He heard his dad say.

"He's your son! He nearly died!" Owen was close to yelling now, and Zach blinked. Were they talking about Gray?

"He nearly got Gray killed!" Scott's voice could only be described as yelling. Oh, Zach realized, they were talking about him.

"He saved my life!" Gray shouted.

"I don't care," their dad hissed.

"Fine, if you don't care about your son's wellbeing, we'll take care of them. Claire and I will stay with them and once we get home they can stay with us until you get your head out of your ass." Owen offered, but Zach could tell, and knew Scott could too, that he wasn't allowed to refuse.

Scott signed angrily, "Fine, if you want to deal with that waste of space, do it. I'm taking Gray."

"No!" Gray yelled, speaking for the first time since Zach woke up.

"Gray, you will come with me," Scott ground out, hands clenching into fists.

"No I won't! I'm staying with Zach!" Partway through Gray's yelling, Claire walked back in, putting her phone away.

Walking up to Owen, she leaned up to whisper in his ear, "Kare wants to know if we'd take temporary guardianship of the boys until Zach's better?"

"I already told Scott that we'd take them until he gets his head out of his ass," Owen whispered back.

"Zach!" Gray grinned, noticing that his brother's eyes were open.

"Hey Gray- oomph," Zach lost his breath as Gray collapsed on his chest, cuddling himself under Zach's arm.

"We're staying with Aunt Claire and Owen!" Gray exclaimed.

"He is, you're not," Scott said.

"Kare already signed over temporary guardianship," Claire told him, glaring at him until he left without so much as a goodbye.

"Hey, why don't you two go get some food? I'll talk to the doctor about what we'll need for this one," Owen suggested, throwing a friendly smirk towards Zach, who rolled his eyes.

"Sounds good. Zach, what do you want?"

"Let Gray decide, Aunt Claire, he knows what I like," Zach smiled as she ran a hand through his hair before leading his brother out the door. As soon as the door closed behind them, Owen rounded on the teen.

"So Zach, want to explain why you didn't tell anyone that you had cut your leg or broken that same ankle?" He asked, his voice casual but body language screaming concern.

"It wasn't important," Zach mumbled.

"Not important? Zach, it was beyond important," Owen told him, forcing him to make eye contact.

Zach eventually closed his eyes to escape the intensely protective look, one that he couldn't remember ever seeing from either of his parents. "I couldn't worry Gray. Besides, you and Claire had more important things to worry about. I didn't want to bother you with a stupid injury when there were dinosaurs trying to kill us."

Owen sighed, sitting on the bed by his hip, "I understand that you couldn't worry your brother, but promise me that if you ever get injured again, even a small injury, you tell me."

Zach opened his eyes again, meeting the fierce green and feeling overwhelmed by the intensity, "I promise," he agreed eventually.

They were interrupted by Gray and Claire coming back with bags of takeout. Gray quickly reclaimed his spot under Zach's arm, pulling the rolling table up to the bed so Claire could put down the bags. She and Gray and chosen to get a family pack from KFC, so everyone was able to eat as much as they wanted. Soon Zach was falling back asleep, feeling a strange warmness that he hadn't felt in years.

The next time Zach woke up, it was to having the IV removed from his arm. He looked around and realized that he was unhooked from everything, except the cast on his right leg.

"You can't put him on crutches," he heard Gray protest, "if he gets dizzy he could wipe out!"

"Would a wheelchair be better?" Claire asked him, fondness filling her heart as his concern for his brother.

"Why not ask him? Sleep well?" Owen asked, laughing.

"Ha ha," Zach grinned, "a wheelchair would be better, if it's one I could wheel myself?"

"That can be arranged," the doctor conceded.

"My house is accessible, so we can stay there until you're better," Owen offered.

Both boys beamed at him while Claire nodded, filling out the required paperwork for Zach to leave. Soon he was seated in the chair, letting Owen push him because he was only half awake. He felt himself get lifted into a truck and buckled in, and then they were off, driving down the streets of Grand Cayman, where they had apparently been evacuated to because the Costa Rican hospitals were full and Owen had a house there. They pulled into a parking spot near a sign that read 'King's Court Britannia' and Owen lifted him back into the chair.

"Welcome home," Owen grinned.

 **AN: Tempted to write more chapters on the boys' time in Cayman (ah, the side effects of homesickness after moving). Should I? If so, what do you want to see?**


End file.
